"Bad Sign For Democracy": Sachin Pilot To NDTV From Police Station

Congress's Sachin Pilot, detained by the police amid the mega protest over Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate for the third consecutive day, told NDTV today that the kind of force the police have been using on the Congress workers for the last three days "has never been witnessed before".

"This is a very bad sign for a healthy democracy. It is unprecedented. How can the police enter the headquarters?" Mr Pilot told NDTV from the police station.

Declaring that no one supports violence, he said, "The same applies to police and the government and the law applies to both sides and it is the responsibility of the government to make sure the law is enforced".

The Congress has alleged that the police and security forces barged into its Delhi headquarters this afternoon and detained some party workers. Tweeting a video from the spot,Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram said the Delhi police behaved like the "private militia" of the BJP.

Mr Pilot was detained several hundred yards from the building while on his way in. "They shoved us into the bus and I don't know what next they plan to do with us. This sort of detainment has never happened before. This behaviour in a civil society is just not done," he told NDTV.

No reason was cited for the police action, Mr Pilot said.  "We wanted to enter our own office. But the police and the Centre have made their mind that no opposition will be allowed," he added.

The Congress -- senior leaders and workers -- have been on a collision course with the police for the last three days, ever since Rahul Gandhi's questioning started in the National Herald case, protesting what they called the "vendetta politics" of the ruling BJP.

The police had refused permission for the march the party planned from the Congress headquarters to the offices of the agency.

But despite the refusal and the police action to round up the party workers next morning, the Congress held the march. What followed was a crackdown. Senior leaders were manhandled, bundled into waiting buses and taken to police stations. Several leaders, including former Union minister P Chidambaram, were injured in the process, the party claimed.

"In the national capital, if you are detaining and manhandling people, what sort of a democracy are we talking about? They should fight with us on issues. They are just targetting Soniaji and Rahulji on political issues,"Mr Pilot said today.

He, however, echoed Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, saying the protests will continue.

"For whatever it takes and however long it takes, our struggle and protest will carry on. We are within our right to expose the behaviour of the Centre," he added.